Teaching sight words is an essential piece of daily learning in kindergarten, first grade, and beyond. There are so many words our kiddos need to master each year. So, as teachers, we need to be pretty proactive in this! But the thing is… traditional methods for teaching sight words can get pretty boring. Flashcards are less than exciting, and we all know that when students are uninterested, the lesson isn't going to stick. So what are we to do? If you're looking for a fun solution to teaching sight words, let's talk about how Boom Cards can be a total game-changer!
First Off, What are Boom Cards?
If you work in a primary classroom, you likely have heard all the buzz about Boom Cards lately, and for good reason! These digital task cards are a fun way to mix it up in the classroom. If you are new to Boom Cards, be sure to read this post to learn everything you need to know!
Essentially, Boom Cards are digital task cards, hosted on the website Boom Learning. They are fun and interactive for students, using a game-like format for most activities. They're also self-checking and provide instant feedback, so your student will know if they answered incorrectly.
Boom Cards can be used for literally any topic you're looking to target. A quick search will show you just how many Boom Cards decks are out there that cover a variety of skills. When it comes to teaching sight words in kindergarten, there's truly no better solution than Boom Cards!
Boom Cards Make Sight Words Fun
Using Boom Cards for mastering sight words is a great way to make a somewhat monotonous lesson fun and engaging.
In my classroom, we use Boom Cards during small groups, centers, independent learning, and even whole group games. Since students are EXCITED to use Boom Cards, using them for practice is a no-brainer. Plus, you can easily differentiate by using different decks among your students to make sure everyone is being challenged.
Another benefit to using Boom Cards for teaching sight words is that you have the option to collect student data and generate progress reports within a paid account. While a paid account isn't a requirement to use Boom Cards, it has great benefits if you'd like to track student progress and see which words they've mastered!
The BEST thing about Boom Cards though, is the variety! Your students will never get sick of these activities because there are so many options to make them feel brand new. Personally, I have more than a few favorites we use frequently!
Teaching Sight Words
When teaching sight words to your students it is important that students learn to both read and spell these words. These words are taught by “sight” because they do not follow traditional phonics rules. By helping students learn to read and spell the words we can improve their reading comprehension, reading fluency, and writing abilities.
Many school sight word lists also include high-frequency words. These words, while often called sight words, technically are not because they do follow the phonics rules. However, these words are some of the most commonly found words in the English language and they are words students will see often in books and need in writing. For these reasons, it is also important to help students learn to read and spell high-frequency words.
Repetition
Repetition is the name of the game when it comes to learning sight words and high-frequency words. The more our students see and interact with the words the faster they can master reading and spelling them. So when choosing classroom activities it is important to look for things that will provide students repetitive practice. But. . . repetition doesn't have to mean boring!
Look for activities where the skill (i.e. reading and/or spelling the target word) stays the same while the activity changes. This is a great way to keep students engaged and learning.
Providing fun and engaging repetition of reading and spelling sight words is just what these Boom cards do. I love using Boom Cards with my students so much, I decided to create a variety of fun decks to use in our classroom.
Building Sight Words
One of my favorites are these Boom Cards focused on building sight words. This activity looks like a board filled with magnetic letters. It has children listen to the word read aloud by the audio directions, and then read it themselves. Then, they spell the word by dragging and dropping the letters into the boxes on the page.
This is the perfect activity for newly introduced sight words. Students are supported with both audio and visual supports as they spell the target word.
This deck includes sound so that students can listen to the directions and the word as many times as they would like before they spell the word on their own. The audio makes this an excellent choice for independent learning and centers.
To do this, I display the deck on the Smart Board and call on students one at a time to come up. They will click the speaker, listen to the word, say it aloud, and then spell the word by saying each letter's name and dragging it into the box. I love using this activity for introducing a new set of words since everyone can see, listen, and spell the new words together.
Listen and Find Sight Words
Another fun option are these Listen and Find Boom Cards. In this activity, students are focused on reading and recognizing the target sight word. Here, the word is told to the students through the audio and students must find the matching word. This is a great activity to help students with reading sight words.
First, students will listen to the word read aloud by tapping on the fish in the upper left corner. Next, they find the word from the available choices and drag the fish with the correct word into the fish bowl. Students receive immediate feedback so they know if they have found the correct word. If not, they can click on the fish to hear the word again and then choose another fish.
My students love this activity! It's a great way to work on reading and finding sight words in a group. We often play this game as a whole group by projecting the Boom Cards onto the front board. The kids LOVE to take turns coming to the board to find the sight word.
This is a great activity to play in small groups too. It is really easy to differentiate the words each small group needs when you use the cards this way. I love that I can use different Boom Card decks with small groups that align with each student's needs and challenge them.
Read, Trace & Build Sight Words
If you're looking to work on tracing sight words, you'll love this set! This sight word activity has students reading the target word, then provides two different spelling activities on one slide. That's three to four repetitions with the target sight word on one slide.
For students that need audio support, they can also click on the speaker symbol to have the word read to them. These built-in supports allow students of all levels to work independently with success.
Next, they trace the word, saying each letter aloud as they go. Finally, they build the word before moving on to the next slide.
This activity is great for center time since it offers some independent practice with reading, tracing, and building words.
These Boom Cards are self-correcting as well! If students mix up the letters, they will receive instant feedback and get to try again.
Boom cards can be assigned as homework too! Students only need access to a smartphone or tablet. I've had parents tell me how much they love having easy to use activities at home that support what we are learning in class.
Try a FREE Boom Card Deck
Want to test out these sight word activities with your students? Enter your information below to be sent a FREE Sight Word Boom Card Deck. This is a great way to see how these activities can benefit your students and make mastering sight words fun and easy!
The deck you'll receive will focus on reading and building sight words. Students will hear the word read aloud, practice reading it on their own, and then drag the letters into the boxes to spell it. Try this activity as a whole group for instant engagement and to generate more excitement about sight words than you've ever seen before!
Even More Sight Word Games
Once you start using Boom Cards to help teach sight words, I know you'll be hooked, just like me! If you'd like to take a closer look at all of the activities mentioned here, as well as many more, be sure to check out the Sight Word Bundle!
This bundle includes 20 Boom Card Decks designed to help your students master their sight words in a fun and engaging format. You'll love the variety of games, and how many words you can target. Check out the bundle and make teaching sight words fun and easy with interactive Boom Cards!
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